Backup Exec 2010 R2 - Backup Plan

[David_Jerwood1]

I am hoping someone maybe able to offer me some advice. I have recently purchased and installed Backup Exec 2010 R2, with deduplication, hyperv, sql and exchange agents/options.

I am now trying to plan the best way to configure my backups.

I have a dedicated physical server connected to via SATA to HP 5TB MSA and also a HP Ultrium 4 Autoloader.

I need to backup approx 5 physical machines, 20 virtual machines with approx total 2TB data.

My initial thoughts are I should backup to disk each night, then to tape weekly and monthly. But I am not sure how best to achieve this within backup exec. Especially as it has been recommended to me, that I should have seperate jobs for my virtual machine to physical machine?

Any advise would be much appreciated. 

[CraigV · Accepted solution]

Hi David,

A couple of things here:

1. If you back up your deduped backups to tape, it is going to rehydrate everything...so it will be 1 huge backup going to tape. If possible, don't do this.

2. It is Symantec's, and every other backup software vendor's, recommendation that backups go to disk first, and then to tape if you have that functionality. This means faster restores. From there, via a D2D2T policy, you can stream those backups to tape at your leisure. Targetting multiple jobs to disk also speeds things up, as you run them at the same time vs. running them sequentially to tape.

3. Certainly a good idea to back up your VMs separately from your physical boxes, especially since you can restore using GRT. Backing these up to disk, and possibly deduped folder, will certainly help in terms of speed.

4. I would leave the Weekly/Monthly backups to run over the weekend...more time to do the backup to tape. Use a GFS policy for easier management of your jobs and media sets.

5. Dedupe needs an x64 server...hope you have 1 of those.

6. If you have DBs on any of those physical servers, you need to keep their backups separate from data. The reason for this would be using AOFO when backing up DBs isn't really supported, and is known to cause issues. You can still run your jobs at the same time to disk (and to the same tape if you back them up directly to tape).

Hope some of this helps?

Laters!

[David_Jerwood1]

Thank you very much for your reply. Firstly in responce to your comments;

1) I was not aware of this, I thought it would still be deduplicated when going off to tape. But I will certainly take this on board.

4) I agree GFS is recommended.

5) Yes I have a x64 with 8GB RAM on my backup server.

6) Both my sql db and exchange are virtual, so I believe backing them up as .vhd with GRT enabled should be fine.

So, how am I best configuring this?

Creating 3 daily jobs, 1 = VM, 1=F&P and 1= Physical - all to deduplication disk

Creating 3 weekly jobs, 1 = VM, 1=F&P and 1= Physical - straight to tape with a GFS policy?

Please let me know your thoughts.

[CraigV]

...when will you run your Daily jobs, and when will you run your Weekly/Monthly jobs?

What would be your company's retention policy, as this will affect how many jobs you should be running, and how long you keep your data for...

[David_Jerwood1]

I was thinking

Daily Jobs (18:00 Monday to Friday)

1 X Backup of Virtual Servers to de-duplication disk - 2 week retention

1 X Backup of Physical Server to de-duplication disk - 2 week retention 

1 X Backup of File & Print Server to de-duplication disk - 2 week retention

Weekly/Monthly Jobs ( 08:00 Saturday)

1 X Full backup of Virtual, Physical and F&P Servers to tape using GFS tape rotation.

This would allow me to restore anything from upto 2 weeks ago direct from disk ensuring quick restores. Also giving me a Weekly, Monthly and Yearly tape going offsite for DR.

Technically is this my best option? Will the one job direct to tape be ok?

[CraigV]

...if you're happy being able to restore your environment to 1 week before (say you lost everything else incl. your dedupe folder), that would be acceptable if your company/you approve...

There is no hard-and-fast rule to what you should be doing, so go according to what is dictated to you.

But backups to tape for offsite storage in my mind are crucial!

[CraigV]

Hi David,

Did you come right here?

Thanks!